A while back, I was approached by a friend of mine, Ryan Nichols, who let me know he and another APD officer had started a company called Heiho Concepts and were producing 2-pt lightweight slings. Ryan and Jon are both good guys, great shooters, and work full-time at our shooting range as firearms instructors. Ryan said he wanted some feedback on the slings and asked if I would try them out for a bit and give him a run down on what I thought. I agreed to test out the slings, but was frankly pretty tied to my Vickers 2-pt Padded sling and not really sure I would be interested in much else. Ryan explained that their sling was similar to a Vickers in how it was utilized, but was more affordable, lighter and had some other attributes users would appreciate. After talking with Ryan at length, it sounded as though they had developed a KISS sling for guys running long guns.

I tested the slings out on an AR-15 and a WASR-10 AK47 I had laying around. The first thing you notice about the sling is weight. It’s feather light and you do not notice it at all when you’ve got it on your rifle. All the buckles and tension adjusters on the sling are plastic (big weight saver); however, the sling feels very secure. I have no idea what the load-bearing capability of this sling is, but the rifle will stay secured. The mechanism to loosen or tighten the sling operates the same as most other 2-pt slings I have seen, but is again plastic. I did not think much of this while handling the sling initially, but it really came into play once I hit the range. Attaching the sling is simple, with looping the rear of the sling through your buttstock attachment point and using paracord to attach the front of the sling. With the paracord on the muzzle end of the sling, it’s easier attaching the sling to weapons less modular than AR-15s. I attached mine to the clip loop on the AK with easy and tied it around the front sight post on my AR-15. Even though I am not great with paracord, I managed a secure attachment.

Running the sling during time at the range was great. You get all the benefits of the big name slings and a few bonuses I was surprised about. The sling adjusts with ease, keeps tension and does everything else you would expect. What you don’t notice at all is the sling itself. It is so light you don’t even know it’s there until you sling the weapon and let it hang. Even though the AK was a fairly heavy rifle in comparison to my KISS Ar-15 I ran the other sling on, I did not feel disadvantaged by not having any padding. It actually made me consider if I really needed a padded sling at all. The other impressive thing I noticed and did not consider until I got range time was the adjustment buckle does not get in your way. Due to being light, you don’t notice it swinging around while you shoot. I’ve thrown in a few pictures of our official photographer, Brandon Dieterich, while he ran the rifle to give you a good visual.

Overall, the key points on this sling is it’s half the price of the big guys’ slings, it’s very light weight and functional, and it is available in camo patterns. With the price, it makes it an easy way to equip several long guns without going broke or constantly having to swap gear around. For me personally, the only things I would like to see added to the slings or offered with an upcharge are a bigger loop to tighten the sling and some sort braided paracord for the buckle to loosen the sling. Obviously this would add to the overall cost, but I think I would personally benefit from them. That being said, as is, the slings work great, as expected and are really a good value. Be sure to check out Heiho Concepts facebook page and give them a like!

Have something your want us to T&E or review for a candid and thorough review? Contact the APDMT at info@apdmarksmanshipteam.org.